Jordan, Switzerland sign agreement for water sanitation solutions

AMMAN — Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Imad Fakhoury and Water Minister Hazem El Nasser on Sunday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Swiss government, initiating a 10-year cooperation in water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and transboundary water management. 

The agreement is the first MoU in Jordan in the fields of WASH, water governance and transboundary water management, granting JD11.5 million for water sanitation solutions for the most unprivileged communities across the Kingdom. 

The MoU comes in the framework of the agreement signed in 2013 on Humanitarian Assistance, Technical and Financial Cooperation, aiming to increase the bilateral cooperation in humanitarian aid and development between Switzerland and Jordan. 

During the signing ceremony, Fakhoury expressed the ministry’s “sincere appreciation to Switzerland’s longstanding support to Jordan over the many years”.

The agreement will deepen the cooperation between the Planning Ministry, the Water Ministry and Switzerland through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) to the benefit of both Jordanians and refugees living in Jordan, according to the minister. 

“We also highly value our strong partnership with the SDC, who has been supporting the Jordanian government in implementing a number of projects in the critical sectors of water and education, among others,” Fakhoury said, praising “the efforts of SDC team in the preparation for this MOU, in addition to their longstanding support to our institutions in the implementation of a number of priority projects as well as in building our capacities in this regard”.

“Going forward, we look to deepen our cooperation and conclude designing the financing agreements for the potential projects that will be implemented in the framework of this cooperation MOU,” said Fakhoury. 

For his part, Swiss Ambassador Hans-Peter Lenz commended “the huge efforts that the Jordanian government and society are undertaking to host hundreds of thousands of refugees from the region in a country that is known as one of the most water scarce in the world”, expressing his “confidence and expectations that the existing strong ties between Switzerland and Jordan will be further strengthened”.